On Friday, April 15th at Midnight the public comment period for Draft Amendment 7 to the Fishery Management plan for Atlantic Striped Bass closed. A day before that  deadline the Leadership Boards of the New England, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Capital and Pennsylvania Chapters of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers submitted comments to ASMFC’s staff urging them to recover and protect Striped Bass. Read BHA’s Comments on Amendment 7 Now that the final public input opportunity on ...

Authored by Jeffrey Edwards and edited by Brendan Woodall (U.S. FWS) The steam of freshly brewed coffee slowly rising from the BHA Stanley mug mimicked that of a freshly stoked campfire in the backcountry as we sat awaiting the arrival of our crew in the crisp Wisconsin air. Stoke the fire. A statement I’ve heard Mr. Land Tawney repeat countless times, but it still has a way of seeping deep into my soul and reverberates with every inch of my being. Every time I apply for a grant through S. ...

Since October 2021, Jackson-area chapter leadership team member Liz Lynch has been participating in the Wyoming Game & Fish Department (WGFD) process for receiving public input regarding the future of elk feedgrounds in western Wyoming. Liz has represented Wyoming BHA in the non-governmental organization (NGO) stakeholder group.  The “shared learning” phase, which involved weekly presentations and Q&A sessions, ran from early November 2021 to the end of January 2022. You can revisit the ...

New guidelines and timelines for Montana landowners to apply for a free either-sex elk hunting tag will go before the Fish and Wildlife Commission for approval on April 19. Prior to that, the commission is holding a work session to discuss the program on April 18 at 3 p.m. The change in the agreements, known commonly as 454s because they were created by House Bill 454, was motivated by a controversial approach the Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks took last year. For decades, only a ...

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), joined by his colleagues Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and John Barrasso (R-WY), announced in early April the introduction of the HOUSES Act (S. 4062), legislation that would permit state or local governments to buy public lands on the cheap, ostensibly to address diminished housing supply and rising housing costs.  Sen. Lee and the bill’s other sponsors claim that S. 4062 would alleviate the housing crisis. However, it is similar to legislation that Sen. Lee floated back in ...